Under the Mistletoe
by Star Way
Summary: [Oneshot] When Sissi plays a mean trick on Ulrich, Yumi becomes deeply hurt. Will the two get back together, or will Sissi get the best of them? Major UxY, JxA some OxS.


Title: Under the Mistletoe  
Author: Star Way  
Genre: Romance**  
**Category: Code Lyoko  
Rating: PG for kissy business. :wink:  
Disclaimer: If I owned CL, why would I be a thirteen year old fanficwriter online?  
Summary: One shot. When Sissi plays a mean trick on Ulrich, Yumi becomes deepy hurt. Will the two get back together, or will Sissi get the best of them? Major UxY, JxA; some OxS.  
Notes: Christmas fic. No more to say.

* * *

"Come here, Ulrich dearest!" came the high-pitched voice he loathed so much. 

Ulrich turned to face the person who was tugging playfully at his clothing. Sissi was there, grinning joyfully. He winced, as if someone had slapped him in the face. He hated Sissi, maybe more than he hated Xana. But there she was, day after day.

"What do you want, Sissi?" He asked the girl, who had mischief written all over her face.

"Well, Ulrich honey, I just wanted to tell you that the gym has been all decorated up for the winter dance, and there's some mistletoe hanging up in there… I put it up myself," she stated proudly, her grip on Ulrich's shirt never loosening.

"Wow, that's quite an accomplishment for someone like you. Hanging up mistletoe all by yourself is a big job," Ulrich deadpanned.

Sissi fumed with rage, but then calmed herself down. "HAH! Well, you won't be making smart remarks after you hear what I have to say! I found your little love letter to Yumi that you were writing, and if you don't come kiss me right now under the mistletoe Yumi's going to hear _every detail_ of it!" Ulrich visibly stiffened. Sissi, her eagle eyes noticing it, leaned in close to Ulrich, and whispered in his ear, "This is what will happen if you don't come with me. I'll find Yumi, and give her the note. She'll read it, and then she'll think you're such a freak that she won't ever even talk to you again!" she giggled.

Normally Ulrich wouldn't have allowed himself to be blackmailed by Sissi, but he felt this was important. He _had_ been writing Yumi a love letter yesterday, during class, a failed attempt to tell her how he truly felt about her. After several tries at writing a letter, he had finally crumpled up his finished work and thrown it in the garbage can. "_That was real smart of you, Ulrich…_" he thought to himself. He could easily envision Sissi eyeing him suspiciously until the last second when he walked out of class, leaving the crumpled-up paper in the trash can. She must have gone up to see what it was, and then when she found it was a love note, decided to use it against him. That bitch.

Sissi giggled some more. "Come on Ulrich, just one kiss!" she said, dragging him over to the gym. Ulrich looked over his shoulder to see Sissi's two henchmen, Herb and Nicholas, giving him a death glare.

* * *

"And so then I discovered that the key to Aelita's anti-virus lies in Aelita herself. I'm so close, you guys. I think I'll skip gym again today to see if I can get Aelita into this world for good." 

"Wow, Jeremie, do you really think you can do it this time?" Odd asked, his eyes wide. Yumi had the same fascinated look on her face.

"I sure hope so. Actually, I think I might just skip all of my classes today, I'm too eager to try my ideas out," Jeremie said.

"Okay, we'll cover for you. Good luck, Jeremie," Yumi said with a warm smile.

Jeremie grinned. "See you later, guys," the blond boy said as he rushed back into the school, to go to his dorm.

Odd watched him leave. "Wow Yumi, what if Jeremie does it this time? This is going to be awesome! I can't wait for school to be out to see if Jeremie's come up with anything yet! I mean, suppose he does materialize her today? Then she could go to the dance, and Jeremie could have a date for once in his life, and it would all be so perfect! Wow, this is going to be great!" he babbled.

Yumi stared at the ground, non-responsive.

"Uh, Yumi?" the energetic boy asked. "You okay?"

Yumi nodded her head slowly. "Sorry, I was just… thinking about someone…"

A huge smile spread across Odd's face. "You're thinking about Ulrich, aren't you?"

She looked over at him, with a "how-the-hell-did-you-know-that!" expression.

"It's pretty obvious that you like him, Yumi. Whyoncha go talk to 'im? He likes you back, ya know," Odd told her, the grin still playing on his cheeks.

"Are you sure?" Yumi asked.

"Positive. In his sleep he mumbles your name!" Odd told her.

"Really?"

"Really."

"Hey, where is Ulrich today anyway?" Yumi asked.

"I dunno, man, this morning he told me to go to breakfast without him. I guess he wanted to sleep in or something. Haven't seen him since then…"

Yumi's eyes darted around the school campus. She finally found what she wanted to find. Or… maybe what she didn't want to find. "What's he doing with Sissi?" she asked, half to Odd, who was just as confused, and half to herself.

"Beats me. Hey look, she's taking him somewhere. Let's go follow them!" Odd suggested.

Yumi pulled out her cell phone and looked at the time. Class wouldn't start for another twenty minutes, so they'd have time to do a little snooping. "Okay, let's go see what this is about, Odd."

* * *

Sissi wrapped her arms around him, and closed her eyes. 

Dear God. Ulrich was about to kiss Sissi.

He cursed in his mind, both fearing and dreading the moment when his lips would connect with her's.

And then in happened. They kissed. Right there, under the mistletoe, in the decorated gym.

* * *

"OH. MY. GOD." Odd said. Yumi and he were hiding just outside of the gym, peeking in the doorway. 

Yumi's eyes showed horror. "I… I have to go!" she said as she ran away.

Odd just kept staring at Ulrich and Sissi. They had stopped kissing. Sissi said something to him, and then they broke their little hug.

Ulrich just kept standing there, and Sissi walked towards Odd with a pleased look on her face. As she passed him by, she said, "Jealous?"

Odd was too horrified to respond. Finally Ulrich walked towards the exit Odd was hiding in as well.

Odd grabbed Ulrich by the arm. "Ulrich, what the hell was that! You just totally broke Yumi's heart!"

Ulrich looked at his friend with surprise. He had obviously not known that Odd had seen Sissi's and his little forced kiss. Not only that, but Yumi had seen them as well. Ulrich's face flushed a deep crimson.

"I…" he began. "It wasn't my idea, I swear… Sissi… she blackmailed me… again…"

"Try telling Yumi that. She's really hurt!" Odd said seriously.

"Yumi cares?" Ulrich asked, his question stated in a way that almost sounded stupid. "I… I was gonna ask her to the dance this morning… but then Sissi got in the way… Oh shit, Odd. Do you think she'll still go with me?"

"I don't know. You'll certainly have to explain yourself to her…"

* * *

Yumi sat in class that day, not paying attention to what the teacher was saying. She honestly didn't give a care. And besides, she was too busy making sure the lump in her throat stayed down, and that the tears threatening to spring to her eyes didn't make an appearance. School that day seemed to last forever. And her mind kept going back to Ulrich, and what he had done with Sissi. 

"_He loves her_," she realized.

* * *

Jeremie sprinted across the bridge to the abandoned factory, his mind racing. "_I'm going to do it, I'm going to finally materialize Aelita for good!_" he thought. He reached the factory, and made his way over to the elevator. Pressing the 'up' button, he waited impatiently for the lift to let him off at the level of the supercalculator. 

Finally the door opened, and he raced over and leapt into the master chair.

He looked into the computer screen. Aelita's face appeared on it. She was smiling excitedly.

"Ready, Aelita?" He asked her.

"I've never been more ready in my entire life, Jeremie," she replied.

Jeremie smiled brightly. He typed something on the keyboard. In response, a synthesized female voice stated, "Initializing virus eradication program".

"_This is it_," Jeremie thought.

* * *

Ulrich and Odd were in science class. Mrs. Hertz was at the front of the room, blabbing on about cirrus clouds. Odd was drawing a picture of Kiwi biting Mrs. Hertz in the ass. Ulrich chuckled slightly to himself, because Odd's drawing was surprisingly realistic. 

His eyes wandered over to the back of Sissi's head. She was sitting up front, next to Herb.

"_Damn you, Sissi. I hate you so much._" He thought, as if she could hear him.

The bell rang, making Ulrich jump.

"Oh, well, I guess that's all the time we have for today. Since tonight is the big winter dance, there will be no homework. Please go enjoy yourselves!" Mrs. Hertz informed them.

Everyone cheered. Well, maybe Mrs. Hertz wasn't so bad after all.

Ulrich and Odd walked out of the classroom silently.

"Hey, Ulrich," Odd said, nudging him in the side. "Check Sissi out, over there."

Ulrich looked. Sissi was smiling and blowing kisses at him. Herb was standing next to her, his face so full of rage, that if looks could kill, Ulrich would be dead in seconds flat.

"Oh man, now I won't be able to eat for weeks… Why is Sissi _always_ being disgusting? C'mon, Odd, let's get out of here," Ulrich mumbled, grabbing his friend's arm and half-dragging him away.

* * *

"_Ulrich loves Sissi_," 

Those words continued to haunt Yumi. Every time she closed her eyes, she would see Ulrich kissing Sissi underneath the mistletoe in the gym.

She was sitting on a bench on the school campus, the place where she always waited for her friends. A soft but freezing gust of wind ruffled her hair and stung her ears and nose, reminding her how cold she was. Her little black sweater that barely covered her navel wasn't very good at keeping her warm. She shivered.

"Hey, Yumi!" someone called. She twisted her head around to see Ulrich and Odd walking her way.

Her eyes widened at the sight of Ulrich. She could barely stand just _looking_ at him and knowing that he had kissed Sissi.

As soon as the boys got close to her, Odd sat on one end of the bench, and Ulrich on the other, putting Yumi in between them.

Ulrich placed a hand on her shoulder. "Yumi, we have stuff to talk about… that kiss you saw in the gym… It… it wasn't…"

Yumi shrugged his hand off. All she could think about was that the mouth that he was telling her something with, and the hand that he had tried to put on her shoulder had each touched Sissi that morning. A fiery look burning through her features, she stared into his eyes. Then she said, "I don't care, Ulrich. If you love Sissi, that's your business. But don't just expect to just be able to waltz over here and say that your little kiss was nothing. I'm not that dim."

Odd gave a small gasp in surprise. Neither of the boys had realized just how much Yumi had been affected by the incident that morning.

Without another word, Yumi stood up and stormed off school grounds, to go home. Ulrich and Odd watched her until she was out of sight.

_Ring!_

Both the boys turned their attention away from Yumi. The sudden noise, they discovered, had been Odd's cell phone.

"Hello?" Odd answered.

* * *

"I said to leave me alone!" Yumi yelled at Ulrich and Odd. 

"No, Yumi, this is different. Jeremie called, he said to meet him at the factory immediately."

The three were at Yumi's house. They were talking outside. Ulrich stood silently behind his friend, who was doing all of the explaining.

She sighed, and the anger behind her eyes died down, perhaps, just a little. "Fine. I'll go see him with you."

Odd nodded happily.

The three raced to the factory silently.

* * *

"Well? Did you materialize Aelita and get rid of her virus, or not?" Odd burst out in exasperation, impatient and hyper active as always. 

Jeremie looked at the floor and didn't respond.

"WELL?" all three exclaimed. They were getting very, very irritated with Jeremie's silent manner.

Jeremie gave a sigh, and looked up at his friends. "You see, guys, I thought I had it right this time, I really did." He stopped to look at them sadly. "…AND I DID GET IT RIGHT!" He yelled, pulling out a grinning Aelita who had been hiding behind the supercalculator.

Everyone cheered. "Oh my god, Jeremie! You did it!" Ulrich yelled, and for a moment he forgot to be sad that Yumi was mad at him.

"I'm so happy!" Aelita said, tears springing to her eyes. She grabbed Jeremie in a fierce hug, which he responded to with a deep blush.

"So does this mean we can finally shut down Lyoko and Xana?" Yumi asked.

"Unfortunately, no. While Aelita is rid of her virus, and that's a good thing, we've found that the switch that would 'turn off' Lyoko doesn't seem to be working. Xana tampered with it somehow, we think," Jeremie explained.

Everyone's face fell at this new piece of information.

"But, I've created a program that will hold off Xana, at least for tonight, so we can all go to the dance without having to worry," Jeremie told his friends, hoping that would cheer them up again.

It worked, on Odd at least. He started dancing about the room, which made Aelita laugh. But, both Ulrich and Yumi just looked even more depressed.

"What's wrong with you two?" Aelita asked. She didn't get a response. "Oh no, are you guys fighting _again_? Huh! I'm away from earth for just a few weeks and all you guys can do is get into fights!" she sighed.

"Shut UP, Aelita!" Yumi and Ulrich both snapped at her.

Aelita blinked, surprised that they had each expressed such harsh words at her.

Odd stopped dancing.

"Hey, don't tell Aelita to shut up! It's not _her_ fault you guys can't get along!" Jeremie said.

"Well, it's not MY fault that Ulrich has to go around kissing every girl he sees!" Yumi yelled, the anger returning to her features.

"That is so unfair, Yumi! _I_ didn't want to kiss her! She made me! She said that if I didn't kiss her she'd show you the love letter…" Ulrich stopped and blushed.

A look of intrigue replaced Yumi's fury. "A love letter?" she asked, piercing him with that see-through-you stare that she was so good at using to get the truth out of someone.

"I…" Ulrich stopped. Then his eyes moved over to Odd. "Odd, help me out!"

Odd shrugged. "Ulrich was writing you a love letter yesterday and…"

"NO, ODD, I mean help me out by explaining the Sissi thing!" Ulrich exclaimed.

"What? That's what I was doing!" Odd stated, frustration lacing his voice.

Jeremie and Aelita were giggling at this strange scene, still hugging each other.

"So basically what you're saying is that Ulrich wrote Yumi a love letter, and then this Sissi girl found it and made him kiss her, to insure him that she wouldn't show the letter to Yumi?" Aelita asked.

"Well," Ulrich began, "Yeah, I guess so." His once red face was now sort of purple.

"Wow Aelita, you're really good at figuring this sort of thing out," Odd commented.

"Thanks Odd. As a computer program, my brain was able to process information like this extremely logically, so that's why I can do that," she explained. "But this one was sort of obvious, wasn't it?"

Ulrich's purple face got a little bit darker. A blush was now apparent on Yumi's face as well.

The room was silent for a while. Then Odd said, "Hey Einstein and Girl Einstein, I'm thinking we should leave Romeo and Juliet alone for a while. I think they need to sort some shit out alone."

"Good idea, besides, I think Jeremie and I have some catching up to do," Aelita said, her eyes never leaving Jeremie's.

"Oh yeah? What kind of catching up?" Jeremie asked. He wasn't just joking, he really didn't know what Aelita was talking about.

"This kind," the pink-haired girl said, as she leaned closer to him. Her lips just barely brushed Jeremie's.

"Aaugh! Aelita, not here!" Jeremie yelled, his face almost turning the color of Ulrich's.

"Oops, sorry…" Aelita said.

"Wait, never mind, you guys, if we're going to go to the dance, we have to go now. It's starting in five minutes!" Odd said, looking at the display on his cell phone.

"Crap!" everyone yelled, and they all hurried into the elevator.

* * *

Dance music pumped through the gymnasium, and kids from the school were all laughing and talking and moving to the beat. 

"Come on, Jeremie! Let's go dance!" Aelita giggled, pulling Jeremie out onto the dance floor.

"Um, hey Yumi?" Ulrich asked, tapping her on the shoulder.

Yumi turned. "Yes Ulrich?"

"Wanna go dance?" he asked.

She thought a moment, and then a big smile spread across her face. "Sure, Ulrich," she said, and the two made their way onto the dance floor just as Jeremie and Aelita had done moments before.

Odd would have done the same, except his mouth was full of food from the refreshments table.

* * *

A slow song came on. 

Several couples united, and began to hold each other, stepping in time to the slow beat. Jeremie and Aelita were no exception. Though Jeremie was blushing furiously (after all, he had never actually slow-danced with a girl before), both of them were having a great time.

"You know something, Jeremie?" Aelita asked.

"What?"

"From the first time we spoke, I think I knew we were meant to be more than just friends," Aelita said.

"Wow, really?" Jeremie said. "I always thought you… didn't have feelings when you were in Lyoko."

"Yes, so did I. But I had never felt anything like that before. And I knew that there was something special about you, Jeremie."

Jeremie's face turned a shade darker. "Hey Aelita?"

"Yes, Jeremie?"

"I love you,"

A tear slid down Aelita's cheek as she smiled brightly. "I love you too, Jeremie. I love you so very much,"

"Oh, one more thing, Aelita?"

"Yeah?"

"Remember when you said we had some catching up to do?"

Aelita laughed. "Yes, I remember that."

"Well, uh…uh…" Jeremie stopped. "I guess… well…"

"Jeremie, shut up," Aelita said. With that, she kissed him on the lips.

* * *

**Meanwhile...**

Ulrich and Yumi were also slow-dancing.

"Yumi, I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to make you feel bad," Ulrich said.

"No, Ulrich, I'm the one who should be sorry. I… it's my fault. I shouldn't have doubted you…"

"Ahem."

The two looked over to see Sissi standing there. Ulrich groaned.

"What do you want, Sissi?" he demanded.

"Oh, I just came by to take you away. Unless you want Yumi to see this –" she waved a slip of paper at them. "-then I suggest you come dance with me!"

"Nope, sorry Sissi. I'm with Yumi right now, and that's where I'm going to stay."

"Fine then, I'll just be reading this to her…" Sissi began.

"Actually Sissi, I'll do the honors, if you don't mind," Ulrich said, snatching the paper from her fingers.

Sissi was too stunned to protest.

Ulrich unfolded the note, and then began reading it.

"_Dear Yumi,_

_Yumi, we've been friends for years now. We've been through everything together. And I just wanted to tell you that you're the most important thing in my life now. Without you, I'd be incomplete. I'm pretty sure I love you. You're so beautiful and smart and funny, and I was just hoping that you might feel the same way about me. Please tell me you do._

_Love,  
Ulrich_"

Both girls were dumbfounded.

Ulrich looked up from the note at Yumi, waiting for a response.

Finally she said, "Of course I feel the same way, Ulrich. I've loved you since the day we met."

"Well then, Yumi, I hope that you don't mind that we aren't under the mistletoe," he said, before pulling her close and kissing her softly.

"Ugh! Like oh my god, I KNOW this isn't happening!" Sissi wailed, before running away sobbing.

Their kiss broke. "Well, I guess she won't be bothering you anymore," Yumi said to Ulrich with a grin.

"I guess so," Ulrich said, also grinning.

They kissed again.

* * *

"_Ahh, such a special sight. My friends are all so happy…_" Odd thought. He was sitting on a chair off of the dance floor, watching his four friends dance. He had a contented look on his face. 

"Hey you," came a voice from behind him.

He stood and whirled around. "Samantha?"

Samantha grinned. "Heard your school was having a dance. Thought I might drop by."

He pulled her into a hug. "I haven't seen you in like forever, Sam! Where'd you go?" Odd asked.

"I've been around. But I went broke again so I had to actually get a job. How much does that suck? It means I can't see you as much any more," the girl said.

"Wow, I see. Well, hey, since you're here, you wanna go dance?"

"Of course, Odd!"

* * *

"Bye Sam! See you later!" Odd told his girlfriend, who was walking away. 

"Well, looks like everyone's happy again," Jeremie said.

"Happy? I'm ecstatic!" Aelita said.

"So am I," Ulrich stated, putting his arm around a smiling Yumi.

"I'd say there's a lesson to be learned from our fight, Ulrich," Yumi said.

"And what is that?" Ulrich asked.

"Well, that maybe our problems can be solved without returning to the past to fix them?" said Yumi.

"Maybe," Odd said.

"Or maybe the lesson is that if you try hard enough you can accomplish anything," Jeremie added. "Like materializing the girl you love?"

"Could be that, too," Yumi laughed.

"Well, whatever the lesson is, I'd say we learned it," Aelita said.

"There's still one thing we have to do though!" Yumi said.

"What?" asked Odd.

"Well, go get ice cream together, duh!"

Odds eyes grew wide. "Hey yeah! We should do that! There's this new ice cream place that's in walking distance of the school…"

"Let's go there then, I want to know what ice cream is!" Aelita said.

Sensable old Ulrich piped up."But it's the middle of December, who would want to eat ice cream when it's this cold?"

"I do! I do!" Odd yelled, jumping up and down.

The rest of the group laughed.

Together, the five of them walked away, talking and laughing. Each of them knew this would be the best day of their lives.


End file.
